Roodepoort community reflects on World Spay Month

Dogs in the townships specifically have unwanted puppies and are being bred with, but most of the time these puppies cannot be looked after and end up being strays on the street.

Most shelters are overrun with dogs and cats needing homes, and the incredible humans who run these shelters are overwhelmed and have limited resources and funding.

Tuesday, 23 February is World Spay Day, an international day to promote the spaying and neutering of companion animals.

According to Cora Bailey from Community Led Animal Welfare (CLAW), the fact that millions of dogs and cats are euthanised each year due to overpopulation, there is no question that spaying/ neutering is vital.

“There are simply not enough good homes for all the domestic animals being born each day.

“Animal welfare organisations are in crisis with the increasing number of surrendered animals, and the decreasing support from the public due to the pandemic,” said Cora.

Roxy Athanasopoulos from Harveys Beacon of Light Foundation revealed to the Northsider that the country is facing a huge problem with stray dogs causing an overrun in already under-resourced shelters.

“The only way we are going to slow this down is by spaying these dogs. World Spay Month is very important in the animal welfare circles, and spreading awareness about this is crucial.

Because of the incredible work that The Dogs Trust does we have 100 dogs from Diepsloot Township waiting to be spayed – we just need the funding to do it,” said Roxy.

Founder of Feed the Furry which currently does food drives to animal shelters on the West Rand, Celeste Vermeulen encouraged the spaying of pets and also encouraged awareness.

“Because of over-population of our animals, the shelters are full, and it is getting harder to help all of the animals in need. This results in sad cases of suffering and euthanasia,” said Celeste.